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Originally Posted by HarryT
Can you elaborate on what revenue stream you believe an author has that is the equivalent of concert performances for a musician?
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What I'm not sure about is how many average authors have significant income from live performances. Certainly not all musicians perform live. And often things like concert tours are more promotional events and not focused on making significant revenue. This excludes, of course, your superstar performers. Also, apparently some authors get paid for appearances, school visits etc. As I said, I really haven't formed a final view on this one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Piracy is certainly not an existential threat to the publishing industry, but that doesn't mean that it's not a significant issue. It is the publisher and/or author's choice whether or not to use DRM; the market will, in the long term, decide whether or not it's an acceptable thing. I can't see a viable library lending model that does not involve DRM, though, to give but one example.
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I am intrigued at developments in Germany which may result in at least one of our Big 5 publishers going drm free in the not so distant future. The results will be interesting enough just in Germany even if this development doesn't spread. Some of the posts in this thread are about drm actually stopping some people from breaching copyright (being those who for whatever reason don't go further and learn to remove it). If this group is large enough then selling them books without drm could be a disaster for the industry. Personally I suspect that people will go on buying their ebooks as usual from Amazon or Kobo or whatever ecosystem they belong to so long as those ecosystems continue to cater well for their needs. Though there are some indicators towards this being the case, none of us can be certain unless and until it actually happens.
Library lending is a difficult issue, and I don't have the answers. Currently, drm is no more effective for library books than for purchased books, yet Overdrive, 3M etc seem to be surviving and even prospering, and there does not seem to be a large piracy problem. Once again, if even the minimal obstacle of drm is removed, will this destroy the model of library lending?